PA Nuke Plant/ $500K in duffel bag incident-- some info about the guards

[TexasLawyer]

http://pepei.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&SubSection=HOME&NewsID=133770


<snip>

The guards had no power to detain the men and, after notifying state police of the unusual situation, could only watch as they drove off. Unlike security agents at airports, who are employees of the federal government and empowered to act on federal laws, guards at Shippingport and other nuclear power plants across the country are privately employed by security companies hired by the plants' owners. Pennsylvania law does not grant private security guards the authority to detain someone, but does allow them to be armed and to use their weapons to protect property. Because the two men didn't try to force their way into the plant, according to local police, the guards acted properly in notifying authorities.

Diane Screnci, a spokeswoman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said security firms must adhere to strict federal regulations, and a plant's operating license can hinge on proving that it is properly guarded. At the Shippingport plant, owned by Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., guards are employees of Securitas Security Services USA Inc. Security there is so tight, Wes Hill, director of the Beaver County Emergency Services Center, said, "They won't even let me in until I go through a security check."

FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider on Friday declined to discuss the number of security guards at the plant, their training or what type of weaponry they carry, only to say that they are "very heavily armed." Screnci said the type of weapons varies from site to site, depending on state regulations.

<snip>

Peter Stockton, a senior investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog group, praised the guards' actions. However, he said, ongoing concerns include the type of weapons guards are allowed to carry, saying they might not be enough in the event of a full-blown terrorist attack making use of rocket-propelled grenades and similar force. Many security guards, Stockton said, don't have military experience and, while not questioning their bravery, questioned how they would react during an attack. "The vast majority of these men have never been under live fire," Stockton said. Training exercises that guards periodically undergo don't properly imitate the violent conditions that would occur in a real attack, he said.

<snip>

A Securitas representative at the Shippingport plant did not return a phone call seeking additional information.

[Ian David]

1. That's bullshit.

You take off your badge, declare yourself off-duty, and make a citizen's arrest.

That's what the damned shopping mall security guards used to be told to do!

[Horse with no Name]

2. And the people that sent them to do their job

knew that.
It was a no risk situation.